The Wonderful Words Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Series

The Wonderful Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The Gospel of John

John 12:44-50

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - June 21, 2017

(Revised December 19, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 12:31. As we get to the end of this chapter, the Lord was still in the Temple in Jerusalem. It was probably the day after Jesus' triumphal entry into the city on Palm Sunday. And there in the Temple, three different kinds of men were listening to the Lord. Some of His closest followers were there, as well as some Jews still wondering if Jesus was the Messiah.

*But also listening that day were hate-filled, Christ-rejecting rulers who eagerly wanted to kill Jesus. The Lord knew those men would murder Him on the cross, so starting in vs. 31 Jesus said,

31. "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

32. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.''

33. This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

*In the next chapter, the Bible moves forward to the night before the cross. But here in the closing verses of John 12, Jesus finished His plea to the people in the Temple. And as He did, the Lord stressed the crucial importance receiving His words. Please think about that as we read vs. 44-50.

MESSAGE:

*The true and living God of the Bible is a miracle working God, and sometimes we have the joy of seeing Him do it. Before I answered God's call to the ministry, God blessed me to work six years for the Air Force. One of my best friends at Robins Air Force Base was a Captain named Bill.

*Ten years later in 1993, we got a call from Bill. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Bill and his wife had already asked us to raise their two children if anything happened to them both. They chose us, because none of their close relatives were Christians.

*Bill went to Cleveland for a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save his life. The surgery involved taking his face off to get to the tumor, but they did one last CAT scan just before the surgery. Bill was lying on the bed in pre-op when the doctor came in and said, "I am in shock and disbelief. And I can't justify the surgery." Bill asked, "Why?" And the doctor said: "The tumor's gone! We've been looking at the CAT scan for an hour, and we can't find it!"

*Our God is a miracle working God. And if you are holding a Bible in your hands today, you are holding one of His greatest miracles of all. The Bible is a one-of-a-kind, miraculous book because it was written by God Himself. This Book was written by the Holy Spirit of God.

*That's why 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us we should know "this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

*The Holy Spirit of God is the primary author of the Bible. And yes, God used men to help get the job done, but those men were all moved by the Holy Spirit to say exactly what God wanted them to say.

*In the book of Acts, both Peter and Paul show us who wrote the Bible. Their statements are great confirmations at the beginning and end of Acts to confirm that this is the Word of God. In Acts 1:16, we hear Peter say, "Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus." Then in Acts 28:25 Paul said, "THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers."

*The Holy Spirit of God is the primary author of the Bible. That's why there is divine oneness in this Book even though it was written through a wide variety of men. Lewis Chafer explained that "it was written over a period of at least 1,600 years by as many as 40 different authors. They differed in language, culture, background and experience. Nevertheless, the Bible, like no other composite book in the world, is one book. . .

*Among the authors of the 66 books in the Bible are kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, a doctor, statesmen, scholars, poets, and plowmen of such diverse backgrounds that one could hardly expect their writings to form any continuity. . . Obviously the Bible had a divine Editor, the Holy Spirit of God, who guided the writers so that all they wrote in perfect harmony." (1)